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| Great White North |
| Change sought in definition of terrorism |
| 2006-06-13 |
| OTTAWA — The federal government is considering changes to the Anti-Terrorism Act to make it clear police and security agents do not engage in racial or religious profiling. Justice Minister Vic Toews said last night he is troubled by the ATA's definition of terrorism as an offence motivated in whole or in part for a "political, religious or ideological purpose." Why else do people fly planes in to buildings? For fun? |
| Posted by:WarHorse6 |
| #6 What does the Newspeak dictionary say? |
| Posted by: Xbalanke 2006-06-13 18:04 |
| #5 Appreciate the clarification, C-stan... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-06-13 16:07 |
| #4 How about focusing on changing terrorists corporeality status? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-06-13 15:36 |
| #3 It has nothing to do with profiling, it's about sucessfully applying the law when it fits. As it is worded now, the activity has to have "the intention of intimidating the public" /security/economy/etc. AND be "for a political, religious or ideological purpose, objective or cause". The "and" part is the problem. It requires that motive must be proven and it is hard to prove motive beyond reasonable doubt. The rest of the Act is defanged if you can't. |
| Posted by: Canukistanian 2006-06-13 15:22 |
| #2 True enough, the premeditated killing of uninvolved persons is terrifying. However, to engage in that act, to change the 3d party's course, without providing an alternative solution to the status quo (the political, religious, or ideological bent) is pointless. That would make terrorism as we know it a power issue rather than a political issue, especially if the definition of power is the ability to make someone do a thing they would not do normally (i.e. the Federal Government's power over the population by requiring payment of taxes.) This would relegate the phenomenon of terrorism to anarchists and spree killers without consideration of the long-term goals of groups like al Qaeda. |
| Posted by: WarHorse6 2006-06-13 11:52 |
| #1 The motivation is irrelevant. It is the intentional premeditated killing of indeterminate and uninvolved innocents that constitutes terrorism. Its purpose is to create terror to compel a third party to take some action it would not otheerwise take. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-06-13 10:05 |